This invention relates generally to a geographically sensitive system for noticing lost persons or pets while traveling by use of a global computer network.
The loss of one""s personal property, whether by chance or as the result of theft, is often devastating. When the lost item is a living being, for example an elderly parent, a child or even a pet, the loss is catastrophic. While the loss of a child brings together numerous governmental agencies, e.g. police departments, the FBI, fire departments, etc., there is no instant means to coordinate the disseminate information. Further, if a pet is lost, there is no governmental agencies to call for help with locating the animal.
Should the person or pet be lost while away from home, for example, on vacation, immediately initiated searches are critical. The parents or owners may be hours or days away from home and their intended length of stay short. Additionally, a elderly person or a lost child may have difficulty communicating to strangers. A lost pet may also become disoriented and exposed to dangers not found at the pet owner""s home.
Statistics pertaining to missing children states that there are 2,300 children reported missing every day in the United States. In the United States, there are 112 million dogs and cats of which an estimated 20% or 22.4 million will become lost each year. Greater than 50% of these will never be found alive.
For missing persons, the recovery rate is much greater than that of animals due to their ability to communicate and the higher intensity of the search. However, the anxiety due to a prolonged search can produce psychological scars to both the missing person and the responsible adult. Further, the recovery rate is not as high for abducted people and runaways where the cooperation of the subject is either prevented or not volunteered.
The options available to owners of lost pets are few; putting up posters, a search, often fruitless, by the pet owner, etc. Motor vehicles, euthanasia, predators, and starvation claim one of every two pets who never return home. Thus, what is lacking in the art is notification system capable of providing notice to a geographically sensitive area upon discovery of a lost person or pet from home or when away from home.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,116 is drawn to a method for locating a lost pet, person, or object. The method describes use of an identification number contained on a card held by the owner and on a tag attached to the item.
The prior art suffers from an inability to distribute an alert regarding the lost person or pet (1) in a timely fashion and (2) to an appropriate geographical area thus maximizing the probability of recovery.
A method for finding a lost person or pet while on vacation which would alert the appropriate personnel that a particular person or pet was missing in their location, at the instant the person or pet is determined lost, will satisfy a long felt need in the art.
The present inventor has developed a system which utilizes the technological power provided by the global computer network (internet) to provide an intelligent and powerful person or pet notification system for canvassing specific geographic area in a matter of seconds. By use of an on-line interview and active web site engine, an e-mail of the lost person or pet can be distributed instantaneously to reach a large segment in the area the person or pet is lost, including police agencies, TV, radio stations, veterinarians, humane societies, churches, doctors, and any applicable volunteer groups. This is especially critical when traveling for the person responsible for the child or pet has no ready means of determining who can assist them in this time of need.
The notification system has the capability of retaining information about the lost person or pet, including a photograph, and their responsible adults or owners. Present technology makes it possible to scale a single system to handle all lost person and pets. Upon notification that a person or pet is missing, the area lost, and other pertinent information, the system will instantly calculate the geographical location within which that person or pet is most likely to be. Using an entered zip code to indicate the area lost, the system will initiate calculations, based upon the particular age and ability of the person, or size of the pet, and an estimate of how long the person or pet has been missing, to determine the most appropriate target area for the search.
Utilizing high speed distribution of photo e-mails, at speeds of about 30,000 per minute; and high speed distribution of emergency phone calls, at speeds of about 10,000 per 15 minutes; the system will utilize the enormous popularity and communicating power of the global computer network to activate a proactive on-line technology. The system will instantly canvass large geographic areas in seconds, distributing vital information to strategically positioned members of the local community in order to reunite the missing person or pet with their responsible adults or owners. Thousand of caring people will be alerted within minutes of notification that a person or pet is lost, enabling the area in which the person or pet is lost to come together quickly and galvanize their efforts to locate the lost person or pet.
The present inventor contemplates the use of the system for finding missing people, child or adult, and pets both from home or if lost at a location other than home. Also, the system may be used for finding lost articles and possessions.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the instant invention to teach a notification system which utilizes the global computer network to initiate a notification process to help in locating a lost person, pet, or object wherever lost.
It is a further objective of the instant invention to provide a method of operating a person, pet, or object interview and active web site engine via the global computer network, which provides speed, scalability, reliability, and security.
It is yet another objective of the instant invention to teach a person, pet, or object notification system which provides for registration of the person, pet, or object online via inclusion of scanned photographs.
It is a still further objective of the invention to teach a system which determines an optimum exposure area for the distribution of information regarding the lost person or pet based upon input of critical data regarding the person""s age and abilities, pet""s age, species, and size, the time the person or pet was lost, and the person or pets last known location whether at home or away from home.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein are set forth, by way of illustration and example, certain embodiments of this invention. The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments of the present invention and illustrate various objects and features thereof.